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Tag Archive | Dinah Washington

I used to play Trouble in Mind with Linda Hopkins. We toured all through France and what amazed me was that the French audiences knew all the words to this song and even to obscure blues where the American audiences barely knew the titles of these songs! Dinah Washington and all the great ladies of the blues are royalty in France. That is why so many of them would live there and tour there!

Today was my last day of this season playing at Metrotech in Brooklyn. We have a few more Christmas concerts next week then i’m off!

Trying to get ready for Christmas.

I will put up some lights on Sunday. They are all tangled in the shed. What usually happens is I try to unravel them, then I get frustrated and go out and buy new ones, This drives Claudia crazy.

This song – What a Diff’rence a Day Made – and style is what my parents listened to, so this is what I’d play for them when they had friends over. My mom and dad had a steady card party at our house. To this day, my mom at almost 90 still loves a good card party. They used to set up a big table on our front porch and my Uncle Bill would make Gin & Tonics and Manhattans. I would eat the maraschino cherries after they were soaked in the Manhattan (what a funky drink!) I was never a fan of dark liquor.

So my mom’s friends would always have me play some 1940’s song for them to sing along. My parents’ friends were so much a part my upbringing. Every one of them had kids the same age as us. We all went to the same church. Every parent babysat for each other’s kids. A very nice community feeling.

You don’t get that same kind of feeling in Manhattan. I mean, we have close friends but they are scattered around and we just text each other. Which is kinda cool in its own right, but in our apartment bulding where lots of people move in and out we only know 1 or 2 people.

Well, playing this song today brought me back to the late 60’s living in Brooklyn and playing for my mom and dad. Good times!

Happy Birthday Dinah Washington! What a Diff’rence a Day Made is for you!